Stitchbonded fabrics and methods for producing them are known, as for example from K. W. Bahlo, “New Fabrics without Weaving” Papers of the American Association for Textile Technology, Inc. pp. 51-54 (November 1965). Such fabrics are made by multi-needle stitching of various fibrous substrates with elastic or non-elastic yarns, as disclosed, for example, by Zafiroglu in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,704,321, 4,737,394 and 4,773,328.
Stitchbonded fabrics are versatile and have a wide variety of applications. Some fabric products, for example, covers for furniture, in particular mattress covers, call for the fabric to have good stretch and/or elastic stretch characteristics. Stitchbonded fabrics could be useful in such applications, however, many traditional stitchbonded fabrics have inadequate stretch capability. Customary stitchbonded fabrics also typically have a plain and monotonously uniform appearance that can detract from a product's aesthetic appeal.
To improve stitchbonded fabric stretch, the incorporation of stretchable yarns such as elastic and extensible partially oriented stitching yarns has been used. Despite stitching with stretchable yarns and, in some cases additionally gathering the stitched fabric in either machine direction (“MD”) or cross direction (“XD”), the amount of stretch of the fabric has been limited. The limitations may result from the limited ability of the stitching yarns to stretch, constraint of the stitching pattern or, in respect to nonwoven substrates particularly, from the degrees of alignment and bonding of the substrate fibers. Stitching pattern limits stretch because the characteristic yarn angle of a stitchbonded fabric stitching pattern affects elongation. Yarn angle can depend upon the stitching thread counts per inch, the pattern notation, and spaces between adjacent stitches in the yarn notation. As concerns nonwoven substrate structures, parallel alignment of the fibers to high degrees (in the MD) tends to limit MD elongation and to promote fabric failure at low cross direction elongation when the nonwoven fibers are bonded to a relatively high degree. If the nonwoven fibers are aligned parallel to a lesser degree some additional XD stretch occurs but extension is limited by the interfiber bonding.
Selected advances in technology of stitchbonded fabrics are documented in many patents including those of D. Zafiroglu which are presently assigned to Xymid, L.L.C., such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,238; U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,128; U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,421; U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,255; U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,952; U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,893; U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,186; U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,674; U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,779; U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,018; U.S. Pat. No. 6,821,601; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,908,664.
A noteworthy utility for stitchbonded fabrics having desirable XD elongation and especially elastic XD elongation is that of skirts for mattress covers. A mattress cover skirt is a band of typically stretchable fabric attached to the periphery of and suspended downward from a top panel that covers the surface of the mattress. Usually the skirt is configured such that its MD is aligned with the periphery of the panel and XD corresponds to the normally narrower width of the skirt. The skirt's main function is to stretch effectively to hold the cover in place on the mattress. It is desirable to have mattress cover skirts with good cross direction as well as machine direction stretch properties.
The aesthetic feature of mattress covers is also becoming more important in the industry. Mattress cover skirts that hang down the sides of a bed are exposed to view and are increasingly being called upon by designers and consumers to match, complement and supplement the visual appeal of a bed linen ensemble. A need exists to improve and vary the decorative quality of mattress cover skirts to meet heightened visual design demands while maintaining and even adding to functional performance.
Many inventions pertaining to cover skirt technology are disclosed in various patents now assigned to Xymid, L.L.C., such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,393; U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,132; U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,231; U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,701; U.S. Pat. No. 6,842,921; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,193. The entire disclosures of all U.S. patent and patent applications identified herein are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Certain additional utilities for fabrics include cushioning, insulation and filtration. These utilities frequently call for a degree of bulkiness and optional irregularity of surface structure that is typically lacking in conventional stitchbonded fabrics. It is desired to provide a stitchbonded fabric with increased bulk and with solid or interrupted surface substrate quality for these other fabric uses.
It is desirable to have a stitchbonded fabric that provides high stretch and optionally elastic stretch especially in the cross direction. A stitchbonded fabric having superior stretch and which is simple to manufacture with only minor modifications to conventional stitchbonding equipment is also much desired. There also is a need for making a stitchbonded fabric stretchable in an aesthetically pleasing manner and with overall strength and structural integrity. Additionally it is wanted to have stitchbonded fabrics that present highly decorative designs and varied appearance features without resorting to complicated and expensive stitching yarns and stitching patterns.